ElencoM-1008K - Digital Multimeter Solder Kit | Great STEM Project | Soldering Required,Black

I assume a lot of potential people looking at this kit want to know if it's good for kids or as a gift. The short answer is yes- although you should know a little about your target before buying this kit for them. I'm mid-level at soldering. I can plow through a kit in quick order but I still can't read resistors very well and I can't diagram a single circuit. So I can say for certain this Elenco kit is perfect for anyone who's not a total novice at soldering. A total novice should start with a cheap toy kit that they don't intend to use, like a breadboard and junk components stolen from a used computer, until they know how to use a soldering iron. Once someone is able to reliably get good, shiny solder joints- this kit is a great next step.Pros:Decent multimeter. This kit wouldn't matter if the result wasn't worth playing with right? It makes real readings, and I'm going to use it on other projects. For people who know their meters: It has a real fuse, three ports (ground, low-voltage w/ fuse, and high-voltage unfused), decent needle probes, a transistor tester, all the basic modes (no frequency counter). For people who don't know what that means: This is about what you'd get if you bought any similarly-priced meter off the shelf. It's okay for most beginners.Easy instructions. There's a great manual included. It starts by walking you through what's included. It introduces you to tricky bits in the assembly with pictures and tips, and there are checkboxes you can tick off step by step. Parts such as resistors are clearly labeled, so someone like me who can't read resistor codes is covered. The manual even ends with a quiz to prove what you learned putting the kit together! Neat.Cons:Need some minor experience, or a trained adult, to assemble correctly. If this was someone's first-ever kit, there are a few places to stumble. A big one is that it's normal in kids like this for components to not always 100% match the parts list. I'll make up an example- let's say the manual says to install an "ABC-123" but the closest part in the bag is an "AB3-12C". With some process of elimination and a little bit of Google work, you can confirm these part numbers are equivalent. That came up with about 3 components in my kit, and process of elimination was enough to find the right parts. Anyone who's put together a similar-level kit before has dealt with these issues before, so again this is only a caution for a kid who's never held an iron before.The kit function is only okay. The main selector dial is a little sticky, although I'm sure it will wear in a little with use. The probes are made a little cheaply, so I wouldn't expect them to last a lifetime although they should stand up to all kinds of gentle use. The kit is also pretty slow to zero out when changing modes. You might switch to a certain reading where you should see "0.00" and instead see "0.03" for about ten seconds while the reading slowly goes down to "0.02, 0.01... 0.00". It will get there, just not instantly like a "professional" kit would. That's okay. But again, a more experienced hand may need to help explain this so a kid wouldn't be confused.Overall:If I were to pay the same price for a no-name Chinese multimeter off the shelf, I might mumble a bit about the quality of the selector knob but the whole thing does work. I'd say this is a great "next step" kit for a kid who's held a soldering iron before but hasn't built up their professional gear yet- once this is done, you have a multimeter you can use to check the function of your next kit!

Poor packaging. Too many missing parts.

This digital meter assembly was purchased as a STEM project for my son. All the electronic components; Resistors, Capacitors, Transistors, were supplied with the kit. Once he soldered it all, the stage of assembly arrived. We noticed several missing parts you would not expect to be missing in a "Build kit". Shunt Wire, two fuse holder clips, fuse, input sockets, Transistor socket, and yes,,,even the big "dial selector knob" was missing from this kit. The instructions were very clear up until this point in the build, happy about that \ but sadly, it just cannot be finished without these parts. It's a paper weight. Even If you want your child to learn to solder, it still isn't worth the money spent because you can order prototype PCB's and a small resistor kit, and at least your kid would be going into something with the understanding that it isn't going to work when he's finished with it. This kit is a big disappointment. I'll update this review if the seller can get me the parts needed to finish this build, but outside that, We'll move on.1st. Update October 6, 2021. After searching a few forums, I was able to figure out that Harbor Freight carries this same meter, I paid $6.99 compete but sometimes HF includes it at no charge to customers for spending money there.. I Paid $23.00 for this kit, so $30.00 invested total between the two. We decided to use the harbor Freight meter (working) as a parts supply bin in order to complete this build. The parts did transfer over, sadly, the meter did not perform when assembly was completed. It would not calibrate below 78 volts, with nothing connected to it. He's where I looked over closely at the garbage can, then said to my son~We did everything we could to get this functional, including disassembling a brand new meter for parts and it still failed to function properly. We learned several things here. One of them is to look closer at how many units are sold and how many people are happy about it, once complete. These two meters are now in the garbage can, and have been laid to rest. I think the next time, I will order a real meter, take it apart, and let him figure out how to repair / build it. At least I will know it was a working meter at some point. This was a huge waste of money. $35.00 can purchase a good entry DVM.

I needed a multimeter and I also wanted a fun kit project, so I picked this up. The PCB is a little crowed and requires you to vertically mount resistors and diodes. Some of the instructions could be optimized: for instance, the transistor test socker isn't instructed to go in until AFTER you crowd it with resistors. It would have been easier to put it on first. My kit had a defective part, but it may have also had a PCB misprint (small misalignment). On this board, there's no room for error. I can only recommend this kit to those who already have a working multimeter, but that kinda defeats the purpose of making a multimeter...

Build up in 2hours and it works well.

as expected

DONT WASTE YOUR MONEY. Put this together and nothing works

Great little kit. Outstanding support from Elenco!